Angels:
Sometimes all you have to do is ask for “help”: that’s the message three men stranded on a deserted Pacific island wrote on a palm leaf found by US rescuers earlier this week.
The three, all experienced sailors in their 40s, were stranded on an isolated island on March 31 after setting off from Micronesia’s Polovat Atoll in a motorized boat, which was subsequently damaged.
Three of her uncles never returned from Piccolo Atoll, a small island in the remote western Pacific, after a woman reported them missing on Saturday, telling the U.S. Coast Guard.
“The sailors spelled out ‘HELP’ with palm fronds on the beach, which was a key factor in their discovery and is a strong testament to their willingness to be found,” said Lt. Chelsea Garcia, search and rescue mission coordinator.
She reported that the three were spotted by a U.S. Navy aircraft on Sunday in Picrot Atoll.
“This act of ingenuity was critical in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location,” she said.
The aircraft crew dropped a survival kit, and a day later rescuers dropped a radio that the sailors used to communicate that they were in good health and had access to food and water and the engine on their 20-foot (six-meter) dinghy. Doesn’t work anymore.
The Coast Guard said a boat rescued the three people and their gear on Tuesday morning and returned them to Polovat Atoll.
In August 2020, three Micronesian sailors also stranded in Piccolo were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant “SOS” they had scrawled on a beach.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
